Pearly, as I have said here before on this or another thread, Arafat has, so far, missed the opportunity to rise to the statementship of one of Israel's founders, David Ben Gurion, when faced with extreme elements similar to Yassin (the Irgun, Lehi, which wanted an Israel back to biblical times, namely both sides of the Jordan river), he laid the law down (and with the force of arms), one nation and one military arm (replacing some 4 or 5 different military organzations), and the military arm is subjugated to the democratically elected civilian government. There was a very short and bloody clash, and that ended that episode. The longer Arafat waits, the bloodier the internal strifes and civilian war he'll face. The most difficult decision a leader can have is to plunge his nation into a civil war (Lincoln had to do it, so did Ben Gurion, in the latter case the speed, resolution and effectiveness of his actions prevented a full fledged civil war)
Zeev |
